Brian Lue, a freshman at The John Cooper School, earned an Honorable Mention in the 7th Annual DNA Day Essay Contest sponsored by the American Society of Human Genetics. Lue's essay, titled "Epigenetics: The Transgenerational Killer," was one of 13 award winners selected from nearly 6,000 submissions from around the world.

The contest challenges high school students to examine, question and reflect on the important concept of genetics. The prompt for this year's contest revolved around the topic of gene regulation. Lue, who plans to pursue a career in some type of science, finds genetics particularly interesting and said he enjoyed the experience of writing a scientific research paper.  "The thing I found so interesting is that everyone thinks DNA is the "be-all and end-all" that can't change, but Epigenetics shows us that the DNA code will always be the same, but the structure around it can change, and therefore can affect differences."

Lue was the only student in Holly Barlaam's biology class to take initiative and inquire about the contest. "I read through the essay prompt and rules of the contest with him, loaned him an advanced biology text to begin his research and showed him how to use our school's library databases to search for peer-reviewed science articles to use as references, and he took it from there," Barlaam said. "Aside from a few quick clarifying questions, he needed no other help. I was amazed when he showed me the finished product; his understanding of a complex topic that we really hadn't discussed in class, went beyond my expectations. I couldn't possibly be more proud of him."

Cutline: Brian Lue with his biology teacher Holly Barlaam

For more information contact:

Deb Spiess, Director of Marketing and Communications

dspiess@johncooper.org • 281-367-0900 ext. 2406 • cell: 832-928-6825

The John Cooper School

One John Cooper Drive     

The Woodlands, TX   77381  

Tel. 281.367.0900   

fax. 281-298-2071  

www.johncooper.org